About

I was recently elected to the ECPR Executive Committee. My reasons for serving include that I am passionate about contributing to our community of political scientists. In these difficult Corona times, we need to continue to stimulate collective endeavours and academic exchange. ECPR has already taken its conferences and summer schools online. I wonder what else can be done to advance political science, e.g. through mentorship – providing spaces for connections, drawing on the strengths of the ECPR Standing Groups and the Research Networks. I would be particularly happy to take on a leadership role, perhaps by representing or be a liaison person for the Standing Groups. I served on the Steering Committee of the ECPR-SGEU, having also served as its co-Convenor and Convenor. We ensured that our governance represented political science in the widest sense. For instance, we sought gender-balance over time in the role of convenors and geographical and sub-field representation of our members, and reached out to junior, mid-career and senior scholars. We modernised our group and ensured we provided skills and training opportunities for juniors (summer schools and pre-conference events). I was also one of three members in a working group that drafted the first ECPR-SGEU constitution (now bye-laws), inter alia formalising procedures for rotation and regular elections to the Steering Committee. I have served previously on professional associations (Chairperson of the Research Committee on European Unification of the International Political Science Association; the Executive Committee of the European Union Studies Association, USA; and the Board of the European Community Studies Association-Canada), and was ex ufficio of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) through my role as co-editor of JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies). Currently I am the Chair of the Dutch Political Science Association (Nederlandse Kring voor de Wetenschap der Politiek). In that capacity I have also modernised our organisation, reached out to a range of scholars to be more inclusive, and taken our conference online. I initiated a survey to reach out to our members to see how to engage better with our members’ needs. I have many years of experience with international collaboration. I would bring those experiences to the ECPR Executive Committee. A Full Professor at University of Victoria (Canada), I spent number of sabbatical leaves in Europe. I have been employed at Leiden University (1993-1994 and 2018-2020) and currently am still a guest full professor there. My research focuses on European integration widely defined: political economy, policy, governance, integration theories, and comparative politics. I have published more than 140 articles and chapters, was guest editor of 16 special issues of journals (many reprinted as books), and in total published 20 books including Ruling Europe: The Politics of the Stability and Growth Pact (Cambridge University Press, 2010, co-authored with M. Heipertz) and European Union Governance and Policy Making (University of Toronto Press, 2018 co-edited with Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly and Achim Hurrelmann).

Research Interests

Comparative Politics, European Politics, European Union, Federalism, Gender, Governance, Government, Institutions, Integration, Islam, Political Economy, Differentiation, Domestic Politics, Brexit, Eurozone, Member States, Policy-Making

Current/Upcoming Events

Standing Groups and Research Networks

• European Union
• Differentiated Integration in the EU